Share of Voice
Share of voice doesn't measure who talks most in your industry. It measures how much perceptual space you occupy relative to competitors, which only matters if that space is occupied by the audience that decides, not just those who listen.
“Dominating the conversation on a topic your ideal customer never reads isn't share of voice. It's just noise measured precisely.”
Otto GTM ObservatoryWhy share of voice must be measured on the right audience
Share of voice has commercial value only if calculated on the channels, topics, and formats where the business-relevant decision-making audience is actually present and active. High share of voice on generalist platforms or topics, frequented by a broad but irrelevant audience, produces no commercial benefit, even when the aggregate figure looks impressive.
In niche B2B markets, where the number of relevant decision-makers for a given product or service is relatively contained, it's possible to achieve high share of voice with modest investments, provided presence is concentrated on the specific channels and formats that narrow audience actually consults.
Anti-patterns
Common mistake: measuring share of voice across all generalist social channels without filtering for audience relevance, getting a figure that grows with no measurable impact on leads or pipeline.
Second mistake: investing significant budget to increase share of voice on broad, generic industry topics, instead of focusing on specific thematic niches where the relevant decision-making audience is actually concentrated.
Practical Application
A company measures a 3% share of voice on generic 'digital transformation' topics on social media, a disappointing figure. Narrowing the measurement to a specific technical niche topic tied to its product, where relevant decision-makers actually inform themselves, share of voice comes out at 34%, and this more targeted figure directly correlates with a 22% increase in inbound contact requests from that audience segment.